Professor Ferris' research examines the shifting roles of the public, nonprofit and for-profit sectors in governance and the economy. He has done extensive work on public service delivery, focusing on the contracting decisions of local governments and strategies to improve public sector performance through competition, decentralization, and privatization. His current work examines nonprofit to forprofit conversions in the health care industry; the changing landscape of philanthropy; and intersectoral partnerships and alliances for urban problem solving.

Philanthropy and public policy, nonprofit entrepreneurship and the volunteer sector